* I'd like to give a grateful shout-out to the brave men and women of the fire crews from Macomb, Wanette, Bethel, Tecumseh, McLoud, Shawnee, and Pink, Oklahoma, as well as the Cleveland County Task Force, with fire crews from Norman, Slaughterville, Cedar Country, Moore, and Little Axe, the Pottawatomie County sheriff’s office and tribal police, and the Black Hawk helicopter crews from the Oklahoma National Guard, all of whom worked together along with local landowners yesterday to end a sudden 300-acre wildfire that raged up to the very border of my parents' property. Fortunately, no one was harmed, ranch animals were safely evacuated, and the fire has been contained (although there's an alert for another one now less than ten miles away). Here's hoping for cooler weather and rain for the area this weekend. You can see footage of yesterday's fire from Oklahoma City's KOCO here.

Some months ago, I asked for recommendations of Sherlock Holmes pastiches and received some great replies. (Thank you!) I waited until I'd finished going through all of Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical Holmesian writings in order, but now I've embarked on my pastiche reading. I'm still only "baby steps" into the project, but I thought I'd list the novels I've read thus far, ranked in order from my most favorite to my least favorite. My reviews are general, and though they may contain a few spoilers about the premise of a given work, they don't give away any twist endings or key surprises.

Novels

Most Favorite Novel Thus Far: Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (2009) Read my review.

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories by John Taylor (2010) Read my review.

I had difficulty ranking The West End Horror and The Seven-Percent Solution, as they were rather neck-and-neck for me. I'd recommend all of these except Trow's and Taylor's to fans of Holmes in general, but I'd still recommend Taylor's to those specifically who are fans of Benedict Cumberbatch.

In the novella/novelette category, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Adventure of the Elusive Emeralds" (a poignant mystery with terrific Watson characterization, in particular, in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #4) and "The Adventure of the Haunted Bagpipes" (a truly chilling mystery with a very real and disturbing threat to Holmes and Watson in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #5), both by Carla Coupe (aka beledibabe). I highly recommend them.

Next up in my pastiche reading: the novel Sherlock Holmes and the Apocalypse Murders by Barry Day (2001) and the collection Sherlock Holmes in Orbit edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (1995).

Thanks so much, my friend! Me, too. I do hope the weather conditions change for them out there. It looks like the firefighters are getting the upper hand on this new fire, but it's already destroyed 33 homes. The weather conditions out there are so conducive to fires right now. Here's hoping it changes this weekend! There's possible rain the forecast.

I actually happened to meet Lyndsay Faye at a NYC Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes meeting recently. I had no idea who she was. People were fawning over her--she was definitely the center of attention. Later I was told who she was and how great the book was.

So I'm glad to hear you liked it. Sometimes it's hard to gauge the accuracy of raves when the ravers know the ravee (?) personally. I am re-reading HotB right now in preparation for Series Two, but perhaps after that I'll give it a try. (Just recently finished reading the canon, too!)

How interesting! I didn't know much about Faye's book going into it, but it really did impress me a great deal, between the character development (great Holmes-Watson interaction, great Lestrade, non-annoying OCs), historical detail, and mystery. I see she's the latest interviewee on the Baker Street Babes podcast, too; I'll have to check that out. I did just buy the collection Sherlock Holmes in America, seeing that she had a short story in it.

Oh gosh, I should've made a separate entry for that. ::headdesk:: Thanks! It was included in The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and so I took the opportunity to reread it (because it bears many, many rereadings), but I'd read it many times before. It may be one of my favorite short stories of all time, in fact. I saw even more subtle little details in it this time, having reread Doyle's canon so recently. That's Gaiman at his best (which is saying something). Thank you so much for mentioning it!

I'm so glad your parents escaped unsinged! As if they didn't have enough trouble right now. :-(

I can't believe that after this many decades of being a SH fan, I have been completely incapable of submerging myself into the fandom with you this past year. I miss our squee-fests and feel vaguely jealous that you've been so absorbed by it, without me. Even though it's totally MY fault for not joining in. I'm petty that way. ;-) Any day now...

I went to last year's Bouchercon (World Mystery Convention) and Graham Moore was on the Sherlock panel and was charming, and very witty. I think the book is headed for film, now. (Laurie King was also on the panel, and though I greatly admire her work, it doesn't always click with me for some reason.)Yes, Saberhagen did do something in that line perhaps back in the 70s . . .Holmes v Dracula is sheer foolishness, but strangely pleasing to me.Also, the popup novel "The Crimes of Dr. Watson" is fun.